The present invention relates to security in shipping containers and more particularly to an apparatus for barring access to a shipping container.
Shipping containers are used to move materials by ship, truck and train. These containers are provided in various lengths to fulfill a broad range of shipping needs. Access to the interior of shipping containers is gained through a pair of doors located in one end of the container and which doors open outwardly. Each door is hinged to the outside edge of the door. Each shipping container door normally has a set of vertical bars placed in front of the door. These bars may be rotated to engage their camlocks and then locked with a padlock. Padlocks however are easily defeated by a grinder, torch or other burglary tool or by use of a key in the possession of those who are not authorized to enter the shipping container. Thus, while the prior art teaches the use of padlock bars for inhibiting access to the storage container, additional security measures are needed to prevent theft from the storage containers.
Prior art U.S. patents which provide additional security means for access to shipping containers includes the Taylor U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,584 for an access bar for a shipping container. This patent is directed towards means to prevent theft from storage containers while they are in transit and provides a blocking apparatus having a pair of legs joined to form a generally L-shaped elongate member in which one of the legs provides spaced apart apertures. Each aperture then fits over a container locking device having a lower cleat which mounts in a hole in a mounting bracket in each corner of a flatbed truck. One of the pair of elongated legs is then positioned under the end of a shipping container so that the other leg of the L-shaped elongated member protrudes above the doors to prevent entry into the doors.
In the Charlton U.S. Pat. No. 4,092,933, a brace is provided for securing the doors of cargo containers being transported on a railway flat car and having end doors that are commonly subjected to forceful opening. The apparatus is handedly attached to a freight car floor and may be folded downwardly into a stowed position but has an upstanding member integrally attached thereto which is raised to block entry into the freight car. A forward biasing component extends between the base member and the supporting floor for forcibly directing the upstanding member against the containerized doors.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,791 to Brown, a container door barricade is for use on a railroad container car having one or more freight decks adapted to carry containers of different lengths. The door barricade may include a plurality of fixed and pivotal barricade assemblies having one or more rotatable Z-shaped plates interconnected by linkage to provide means for simultaneously rotating the Z-shaped plates from either side of the freight vehicle.
The present invention is for an access shield for a shipping container, which container has a pair of doors and a plurality of supporting feet. An access shield for the shipping container is placed under one end of the shipping container and is supported by the shipping container's weight with a pair of locking arms positioned behind the shipping container's feet to block access into a shipping container.